Oil-fired furnace



May 9, 1939. J. w. wEsTwlcK OIL-FIRED FURNACE Filed Marck 16, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 9, 1939.

J. W. IWESTWICZK OIL-FIRED FURNACE Filed March 16, 1938 Sheets-Sheet Ja//A/ Patented May 9, 1939 PATENT oF'FicE 2,157,643 oI'L-FIRED FURNACE John W; Westwick, Galena, lll. Application March is, 193s, serian No. 196,241

9 Claims.

My invention relates to furnaces and heaters, particularly warm-air furnaces such as used for heating residences .and the like. My furnace is especially designed for use with an automatic .burner in which oil or other uid is employed as a fuel. i

The warm-ail*` furnace which I have invented embodies a main structure that is of a built-up character; i. e., it is made of a plurality of sideby-,side sectional units that may be bolted together to provide a complete body. In this manner, the size 'of the furnace may be readily enlarged or reduced according to the requirements of a particular installation. Since eachsectionA or unit is secured to an adjacent section, it is possible for the entireseries of sections to expand or contract uniformly without opening the joints between them. The sections have an oval outline on their exterior walls and have central areas that communicate entirely through the body for the passage of the air that is being heated for circulation, and the sides of sections, alongside the central areas are tubular and are provided with inwardly inclined external nsto direct a proportion of the circulating air against the hot surfaces of the sections and into the c'entral areas. At the bottoms of the sections there below and communicating with the tubular sides, and these spaces combine tb provide a compartment in which the combustion or fire-chamber is disposed. The fire-chamber is a casting of a somewhat ovoid shape andit is vented on its sides at or near its bottom segment in order that the hot gases from the oil-burner nozzle will be retarded and will be compelled to travel' towards the outsideof the furnace body when leaving the chamber to produce a maximum distribution of heat on the walls of the furnace body. The dimensions and shapes of the lower spaces of the sections relative to the dimensions and shape of the ovoid: combustion chamber permits the latter' to be readily inserted or removed horizontally through. the front of thefurnace body whenever desired. A casin'g or housing of any suitable shape surrounds the furnace body@` and the latter issupported in a framework above the floor so that the air being heated may circulate below the body and rise upon both sides thereof. I have provided means within the furnace body which tend to retard the speed of travel of the hot gases and to retain them within vthe body for a comparatively long period of time before they are discharged into the stack and in this manner the walls of the furnace body (cl. 12s-11e) he successfully and efficiently operated with materially less fuel than can other types of furnaces at present available. The arrangement of the component parts of my furnace is quite compact so that it occupies a relatively small area, and it is capable of being' quickly `erected at the place of installation. In its performance myafurnace is eiilcient and effects a considerable saving in fuel consumption, and it issturdily built in order to withstand severe usage. Furthermore, it is economical to manufacture. and may thergfore be sold at a reasonable retail price. il' Y Other.l objects and advantages of my furnace will 'be apparent to persons skilled in the art after the construction and operation thereof is understood. I prefer to practice my invention substantially in the manner herein explained, the accompanying drawings being referred to for a better understanding of the characteristics and use of my invention. These drawings, while more or less schematic, disclose the principles of my Warm-air furnace and a typical or preferred form in which the parts of my furnace may be made and assembled.

In the drawings- Figure l is a view in front elevation of my furnace, showing portions of an air-conditioner unit zassociated therewith, the front walls of the casing being removed. f n

Figure 2 is a top plan of the furnace with two of the sectional units broken away and in section. l

Figure 3 is a. vertical transverse section taken on line in Figure 4 looking towards the front in the direction of the arrows.4

on line 4 4 in Figure l looking in the direction with the discharge side of a suitable ai/t-impeller through the return-air pipe I6, passes through the filters, (as well as such other instrumentalities required for air-conditioning) before being discharged into the furnace shell for heating the same. Supplemental walls I1 are mounted in spaced relation on certain of the walls of the shell for the purpose of heat insulation. At the front of the shell, and extending beyond the front wall 5 thereof, there is a vestibule I8 that encloses an oil-bumer unit I9 that is supported above the floor on'a suitable standard 20. (Fig.

4) and has its flame nozzle 2l passed through the front of the casing and furnace body so that v it discharges into the fire-chamber.

The furnace is supported above the floor within the casing by a skeleton framework consisting of a plurality of posts 22 having their upper ends connected by horizontal saddles 23 in which ,the bottom portions of the sectional units of the furnace are seated. There is a comparatively large opening in the lower portion of the front wall 5 of the casing which opening is surrounded by a recessed bezel 24 of irregular or Z-shape in cross-section and the inner flange of this bezel is secured to the adjacent furnace section by bolts 25. The oil-burner nozzle has a flange 26 about midway its length that is bolted to a closure plate 21 of a shape and size to seat in the recess of the bezel 24 so that it may be secured in position upon the extended shanks of the bolts 25 that mount t'he bezel. The central p ortion of closure plate 21. is provided with an opening for the nozzle 2I and this opening is surrounded by a tapered stub 28 that projects in- Wardly a short distance to abut the face of the front wall of the re chamber as shown in Figure 4. By means of the arrangement just described the burner I9 with the closure plate 21 provide a structure which may be readily attached to the bezel 24 as a unit or demounted therefrom by removing the nuts on the outer ends of the bolts 25.

The shape and size of the fire chamber 29 permits of its insertion or removal through bezel 24 surrounding the front opening. The fire chamber is made in two complementary hollow castings or shells 30 that are disposed with their edges abutting and connected together by bolts or screws that pass through alined ears 3l on the outer surfaces of the shells. The front wall of the chamber has an opening 32 into which the burner nozzle 2l is inserted and said wall is provided with a peep-hole 33 above the opening to permit observation of the flame through an inspection aperture 34 in the closure front plate 21. The aperture 34 is preferably covered by a piece of heat-resisting glass or other suitable material for protection and for preventing escape of hot gases. Horizontally elongated egress openings 35 are made in the lower portions of the side walls of the lire-chamber which permit escape of the hot gases and flames out of the chamber and into the section furnace body for circulation in the latter, land, as seen in Figure 4, these egress openings are below the plane of the burner nozzle, which permits the chamberto become filled with the flames and said flames ymust travel downward to escape from the chamber. The inner surface of the chamber is lined or coated with a subsembling the half-sections of the fire-chamber castings. It is understood the fire-chamber is assembled in a unitary form before being inserted into the sectional body.

This furnace body, as hereinbefore mentioned, is a composite structure Vthat is built-up from a plurality of sections which are assembled sideby-side in order that a body of any desired size may be readily obtained. These sections or units are each in the form of an integral casting made from the same mold or pattern which effects considerable economy of manufacture. In Figure 5 I have shown one of these sectional units in perspective to more denitely bring out certain details thereof. The sectional unit comprises tubular sidemembers 31 which are spaced apart to provide a central area 38 between their inner facing portions. As shown in section in Figure 2, the vertical tubular members 31 are somewhat oval in shape. Their upper portions merge into a barrel-shaped member 39 that has a horizontal axis and is-hollow so that the members 31 discharge into it. The length of the barrel-shaped member 39 is greater than the horizontal width of the upper portions of the tubular members 31 so that short collars 40 are provided outside the tubes 31 at each end of the barrel-shaped member 39. Suitable lugs 4I are formed on the collars 40 to receive bolts in order to assemble adjacent units to each other. Below the central area 38 the tubular side members curve inward towards each other to provide a lower chamber 42 having relatively wide arched openings 43 that areV surrounded by substantially L-shaped flanges 44 which are provided with lugs to receive other bolts for securing the sectional units together. The lateral faces of the L-shape flanges 44 of one section are disposed against the corresponding portions of an adjacent section and. as seen in Figure 6, the faces of flanges 44 and the outer ends of collars 40 and lugs 4I are all' extending from end-to-end of the furnace body.

The openings 43 in the lower portions of the sections provide communication between one section and the next section and are of suflicient dimensions to permit the fire-chamber unit to be inserted endwise into the same through the front of the furnace.

The flames or hot products of combustion, finding egress from the fire-chamber through the lower openings 35 therein, discharge into the lower passageway A and travel upwardly through the tubular members 31 and into the upper passageway B,'transmitting the heat to the castings forming the sectional units, and are discharged from top of the rear section into a pipe 45 leading to the chimney or stack. In order to retard their movement, and holdback or retain the hot products of combustion within the furnace body, I place a baille plate 46 at the junction between the last two sectional units of the furnace body so that the hot gases will travel downwardly in the sectional unit, designated as X in Figure 4, through the tubular members 31 and into the rear portion of the lower passageway A, preferably back of the nre-chamber 29. As a further hindrance to the movement of the hot gases, I

mount a baiiie 41 at the juncture of the. last two sectional units, the lower edge of `which baille terminates above the bottom of passageway A so that the hot gases must pass under the lower edge of said baiile and then travel upwardly through the tubular members 31 of. the rear unit andthence into the stack.q For the purpose of balancing the stack temperature, and proportionating it to the' temperature of the furnace body, there is a supplementary outlet 48 in the portion of the rear sectional unit near the upper portion of the passageway A and an elbow 49 extending from this opening 48 leads to a.T-coup1ing 40 interposed the, pipe leading to the stack. .The iiow through th/is elbow and supplementary outlet is controlled by damper I so that it may be shut off whenever desired.

' The air 'which is returned to the furnace through the return-air conduit I6 discharges into the bottom of the casing through`the opening I2 and is of the forced-draft type due to the action of the blower or fan I3. This return-air enters the bottom ofthe casing and impinges upon the hot surfaces of the furnace body and circulates around the sameand between the tubular members 31 and passes out above the body into plenum chamber I0 for distribution. A certain proportion of the circulating air passes into the central areasv38 of the respective sections, which areascombine to provide a longitudinal warmair passageway C. In order to assist in directing the circulating air inwardly towards this passageway C and between the units, I 'have provided a plurality of inwardly and upwardly inclined fins 52 upon the lower portions of the exteriors ofthe tubular members 31 near their lower portions so that the air is directed between said members and into the heating area C. In

order to provide for a uniform heating ofthe walls of the tubularmembers they are especially designed in theV cross-sectional shape shown in Figure 2. Each tubular member embodies a plurality of wallsa, b, and c, the wall a being outermost and disposed lateral to the other walls, and the side walls b and c being converged towards each other in a general direction away from the lateral wall a. The tapered walls b and c provide a more constricted space between them that becomes gradually smaller towards their meeting edges that are remote to the lateral wall so that .the hot gases, traversing the interior of the tubular member in the direction of least resistance, will be urged away-from theconstricted space towards outer wider area near the wall a. In

this manner I secure more uniformly heated' wall surfaces against which the air-currents being heated will impinge.'

I'he shapes of the sectional units'create a natural and unobstructed travel for the air-currents being heated, and the disposition of the combustion passages and tubes results in a more uni-4 form heating of the furnace body walls. I have also provided a radiating surface of increased disired for a particular` installatin. The individual -sections of ,the furnace body are bolted-or i otherwise secured to each other, and', on account -of their special shape, expansion of themetal will -not open any ofth'e joints such as would occur if all of the sections were held together by elongated tie-rods. x

What I claim is:

1. A warm-air furnace embodying a. casing;

a furnace body housed in said casing, said body provided with horizontal upperL and lower inner passages communicating with each other and adapted tobe traversed by products of combustion, said body provided also with outer passages adapted to be traversed by air being heated; and a fire-chamber unit disposed inthe lower horizontal inner passage, said unit embodying a hollow shell provided with means solely in its lower portion for egress of products of combustion therefrom into said lower horizontal passage, said shell also provided with other means for discharging ignited fuel thereinto.

2. A warm-air furnace embodying a casing; sectional units therein, each said unit embodying anupper header, a lower header having sides extending generally in a vertical direction, tubular columns communicating with said headers, the openings Ibetween said columns and said lower header being substantially the height of said vertical sides; the lower headers together providing a horizontal heat passageway adjacharge hot products of combustion into the lowl,

er portion of said heatpassageway.

3. A warm-air furnace embodying a casing;

sectional units therein, each said unit embodying an upper header, a lower header having a rectangular shaped lower portion .provided with substantially vertical side-walls, tubular columns connecting and communicating with said headers, the openings between said columns 'and said lower header extending'from the top to the bottom of said headerKin said vertical side-walls; the said lower headers together providing a horizontal heat passageway adjacent-the bottom of said casing; and a fire-chamber unit in said heat passageway,n said fire-chamber unit 'embodying a closed shell provided with elongated openings adjacent its bottom, whereby hot products of combustion from said fire-chamber unit are discharged opposite to and directly towards the openings into said columns. A

4. A warm-air furnace embodying a casing; a furnace body housed in said casing, said body' provided with horizontal upper and lower inner passages, means connecting and establishing communication between said passages, said passages and said means adapted to be traversed by .products Yof combustion', said body provided also with outer'fpassages adaptedto betraversed by air being heated; and a nre-chamber unit disposed in 'said lower horizontal passage, said unit .embodying a hollow. shell provided with means in 'its lower portion for egress of products of combustion therefrom into said lower horizontal passage opposite the opening into certain of. the aforesaid passage connecting means; said shell provided also with other means for discharging ignited fuel thereinto. 5. A warm-air furnace embodying a casing; a furnace body housed in said casing, said body providedlwith horizontal upper and lower walled passages, means connecting and establishing communication between said walled passages, the

said passages and the said means adapted to be' traversed by products of combustion, said body provided also with outer-p\a ssages adapted to be traversed by air being heated; and a fire-chamber'unit disposed in said lower horizontal passage, the said unit embodying a hollow shell provided with egress means in its lower portion fordischargepf products of combustion therefrom into the lower portion of said lower horizontal passage opposite and directly towards the opening into certain of the aforesaid passage connecting means, the said shell provided also with other means for discharging ignited fuel thereinto. p

6. A warm-air furnace embodying a casing; a furnace body therein formed of sectional units, each said unit embodying an upper header, a lower header of largerf'cross-sectional area than the upper header, tubular side columns connecting and establishing communication between the sides of the upper and lower headers; the lower headers together providing a horizontal heat passageway extending from front to rear of said furnace body; and a fire-chamber unit embodying a closed shell and provided with means in its lower portion adapted to discharge hot products of combustion into the lower portion of said heat passageway and directly towards the lower ends of said columns.

7. A warm-air furnace embodying a casing; a furnace body therein formed of sectional units, each said unit embodying upper and lower headers, the lower header having a rectangular shaped lower portion and of larger cross-sectional area than the upper header, tubular side columns connecting and establishing communication between said upper-and lower headers;

the said lower headers together providing a horizontal heat passagewiay extending from front to rear of said furnace body; and a fire-chamber unit in said heatpassageway, said fire-chamber unit embodying a closed shell provided withelongated discharge means adjacent its bottom,

whereby hot products of combustion are discharged from said fire-chamber unit opposite and. directly towards the openings into the lower ends of said columns.

8. In a warm-air furnace body a horizontal heat passageway extending from front to rear thereof; spaced vertical columns opening into said passageway; and a fire-chamber unit in said passageway, said unit embodying a closed hollow shell adapted to receive hot products of combustion, said shell provided with egress openings in its lower portion through which the hot products of combustion are discharged into the lower portions of adjacent columns.

9. In a warm-air furnace body a horizontal heat passageway' extending from front to rear thereof; spaced vertical columns opening into said passageway; and a fire-chamber unit in the front portion of said passageway and filling a major proportion of the cross-sectional area thereof, said unit embodying a closed hollow shell into which hot products of combustion aredischarged, said shell provided with longitudinally disposed egress openings in its lower portion through which openings the hot products of combustion are discharged into the lower portions of adjacent columns.

' JOHN W. WESTWICK. 

